United States v. Carey

664 F. App'x 716
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedNovember 4, 2016
Docket16-8093
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 664 F. App'x 716 (United States v. Carey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Carey, 664 F. App'x 716 (10th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER *

Monroe G. McKay Circuit Judge

Petitioner Tyrone Carey filed a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion to vacate his sentence, arguing that § 4B1.2(a) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines has been rendered invalid by the Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v. United States, — U.S. —, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015). The district court, aware that the *718 Supreme Court will soon consider the same question in Beckles v. United States, — U.S. —, 136 S.Ct. 2510, 195 L.Ed.2d 838 (2016), stayed the proceedings pending a final decision in Beckles. Mr. Carey immediately filed a notice of appeal and now asks us to either treat the district court’s stay order as a final order and review it on the merits or, alternatively, to treat his notice of appeal as a petition for writ of mandamus under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), and direct the district court to rule upon his § 2255 motion. We construe Mr. Carey’s notice of appeal as a motion for mandamus, and because we conclude that Mr. Carey’s right to issuance of the writ is clear and indisputable, we direct the district court to vacate its stay order and rule on the merits of Mr. Carey’s § 2255 motion.

I.

On May 21, 2014, a federal grand jury indicted Mr. Carey on a single count of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). Mr. Carey entered a plea of guilty, and the district court sentenced him to fifty-one months’ imprisonment, at the bottom of the advisory Guidelines range calculated in his pre-sentence report.

On May 19, 2016, Mr. Carey filed a § 2255 motion seeking to vacate his sentence. In this motion, he argued that he is entitled to resentencing because the advisory Guidelines range on which the district court based his sentence included a six-levél increase imposed under the residual clause of § 4B1.2(a) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which has now been rendered invalid by the Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson. Without this six-level increase, the advisory Guidelines range for his sentence would have been twenty-seven to thirty-three months instead of fifty-one to sixty-three.

The government moved to stay the proceedings. In its motion, the government noted that “[d]n June 27, 2016, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Beckles v. United States (S.Ct. No. 15-8544), to decide ... whether Johnson’s constitutional holding applies to the residual clause of U.S.S.G. § 4Bl.l(a)(2), and if so, whether Johnson applies retroactively to cases on collateral review.” (R. Vol. I at 20.) The government asked the district court to “stay all proceedings in [Mr. Carey’s case] until the ... Supreme Court issues an opinion in Beckles.” (Id. at 19.)

The district court granted the government’s motion on August 8, 2016, ordering all proceedings in the case stayed until the Supreme Court issues an opinion in Beck-les. Mr. Carey then filed this appeal.

II.

Mr. Carey argues on appeal that we should treat the district court’s stay order as “final” for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 1291 because his § 2255 motion was, in effect, a request for an injunction ■ compelling speedier release, see Wilkinson v. Dotson, 544 U.S. 74, 80, 125 S.Ct. 1242, 161 L.Ed.2d 253 (2005), and thus the district court’s stay order is immediately appeal-able under Carson v. American Brands, Inc., 450 U.S. 79, 101 S.Ct. 993, 67 L.Ed.2d 59 (1981), as an order that (1) had “the practical effect of refusing an injunction,” (2) may have “serious, perhaps irreparable consequence,” and (3) “can be effectually challenged only by immediate appeal,” id. at 84, 101 S.Ct. 993 (internal quotation marks omitted). In the alternative, he argues that we should treat his notice of appeal as a petition for mandamus under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), and direct the district court to rule on his § 2255 motion. He notes that, as of Sep *719 tember 2016, he had already served approximately twenty-eight months in prison—more than the bottom of the advisory Guidelines range that would have been applicable were it not for the arguably unconstitutional use of U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2 to increase his offense level by six levels.

We have not received the benefit of any briefing from the government on Mr. Carey’s Carson theory of appellate jurisdiction, while the government has briefed the question of Mr. Carey’s entitlement to mandamus relief. Given this fact, as well as the time-sensitive nature of this case and our conclusion that mandamus relief is warranted, we conclude that it would be most appropriate for us to construe Mr. Carey’s notice of appeal as a petition for mandamus and grant relief on this basis, rather than requesting briefing from the government and further prolonging these proceedings in an attempt to resolve the difficult jurisdictional issues that will otherwise be implicated.

We consider “five nonconclusive guidelines” in determining whether to grant mandamus relief. Clyma v. Sunoco, Inc., 594 F.3d 777, 782 (10th Cir. 2010) (internal quotation marks omitted). These include whether:

(1) the petitioner has alternative means to secure relief; (2) the petitioner will be damaged in a way not correctable on appeal; (3) the district court’s order constitutes an abuse of discretion; (4) the district court’s order represents an oft-repeated error and manifest, persistent disregard of applicable law; and (5) the district court’s order raises new and important problems of law or issues of first impression.

Id.

Here, we conclude that Mr. Carey can satisfy four of these five guidelines. To begin with, Mr. Carey has no clear alternative means to secure relief. Conceivably, if we accepted his Carson theory of jurisdiction, he could obtain collateral review of the district court’s stay order through an interlocutory appeal, but at this point the possibility remains speculative, and, under all of the circumstances of this case, we are persuaded that this guideline weighs in Mr. Carey’s favor and suggests the appropriateness of mandamus relief to ensure that Mr. Carey is able to receive timely resolution of his habeas motion. Second, if Mr.

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664 F. App'x 716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-carey-ca10-2016.